Russian athletes expressed little confidence on Monday (20th June) that an IOC meeting on allegations of doping in Russian athletics would bring a reprieve for the track and field team hoping to compete at the Olympic Games in Rio.

The IOC will decide on Tuesday whether or not to allow Russia's track and field athletes to compete in the Rio Olympics this summer.

The IAAF voted to uphold a ban on the nation’s athletes on Friday as punishment for widespread systematic doping within the country.

The IOC could overturn the IAAF's decision, however, Russian athletes and coaches, including Nikolai Suvorov, are not hopeful of a positive outcome

SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Nikolai Suvorov, long distance running coach (on whether IOC will reprieve Russia athletes on Tuesday after IAAF ban):

"Considering the mood of the IAAF, I don't think anything will change. We do not believe in (such changes). Because from my point of view this decision was really politicised. Everything here is politicised. But we can't do anything about that. It happened in the 1980 and with the Olympics of 1984, we can think of many similar cases. The athletes shouldn't suffer."
The Russian federation is considering an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the IAAF ruling, with the IOC expected to back the ban.